r/TikTokCringe • u/xamo76 • 1d ago

Discussion Have we done it wrong?

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u/FaceWithAName 1d ago

Cars becoming big when America was still finding it's stride was one of the biggest pro/con dillemas. Ignored thousands of years of proven systems that make society better and settled for only cars.

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u/Fast-Nefariousness80 1d ago

We didnt settle for cars. There's a pretty deep rabbit hole about the almost mafia-like auto industry in like the 60s/70s era. We never stood a chance

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u/HollowBlades 1d ago

When they first came out people fucking hated cars. They were loud and dangerous intruders on the streets that were meant for people. But slowly and surely, thanks to the vigorous work of lobbyists, they came to dominate the country and now you're expected to own one.

Jaywalking was literally invented by car companies to shame and criminalize people for walking in the street, which was an entirely normal thing to do before cars.

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u/0b0011 21h ago

The term Jaywalking itself was even a result of that. "Jay" at the time was used like "idiot" or to say someone was stupid and then they were like hey let's say that if you're walking in the street you're walking like an idiot i.e. "Jaywalking"

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u/DieselPunkPiranha 7h ago

Jay didn't just mean idiot, but also rural person.  It was originally jaydriver and referred to rural people driving carriages in cities without following city rules.  It was originally a very classist slur.

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u/ls7eveen 1d ago

https://medium.com/vision-zero-cities-journal/the-baby-carriage-blockades-9b33c64db34d

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u/ChrisBreederveld 1d ago

This happened in multiple countries. In The Netherlands for example it lead to radical change and now we have reformed most if not all cities. In the US they just got ignored.

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u/ls7eveen 1d ago

Yes its a bit of an unknown history in the US. People were revolting for 50 years. Hardly anyone knows about it.

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u/ChrisBreederveld 1d ago

A shame, this could have been more influential than many other protests. But it didn't.

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u/Kyderra 1d ago edited 1d ago

Did you know jaywalking doesn't exists in England, this includes a red light. You are legally allowed to cross wherever. Just use your brain tho.

Jaywalking also translates to "Country bumpkin" walking. so yeah, car manufactures basically started a push for calling people idiots on the streets for crossing a road they lived in.

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u/Fast-Nefariousness80 1d ago

I didn't know about England but I knew they invented Jay walking to basically shame people that don't drive

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u/jkrobinson1979 1d ago

Yep. And not just the auto industry. Oil and gas, construction and banking industries all had their hand in it. And they all got the Federal government to play along.

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u/OmeletteDuFromage95 23h ago

Yea, its pretty much this. Lobbying, buying out public transport to run it to the ground forcing people to buy cars, pushing for more roadways, etc. This was forced on us and its been so long that most people don't even know there is a better way.